Ode to a Banker: A Marcus Didius Falco Mystery, Book 12

Can a tough detective possess the soul of a poet? After a public reading brings him rousing applause, Falco receives an offer to have his work published. But his ego takes a beating when the banker Chrysippus demands payment for putting the verse on papyrus. Hell hath no fury like an author scorned, and when Chrysippus turns up murdered - in the library, no less - it's poetic justice. Appointed the official investigator, Falco's soon up to his stylus in outraged writers and shifty bankers.

Two for the Lions: A Marcus Didius Falco Mystery, Book 10

Nothing's certain except death and taxes. Catching tax evaders for Emperor Vespasian looks like a plum position for Marcus Didius Falco, who has teamed up with his old boss, Anacrites, the crotchety chief spy of Rome. Soon, however, Falco is bogged down in bureaucracy, stuck at his stylus, and longing for a good murder to investigate. He gets one when someone kills Leonidas, the empire's official executioner.

One Virgin Too Many: A Marcus Didius Falco Mystery, Book 11

Men are fools for love. And that includes Marcus Didius Falco. To please his beloved, the tough shamus has become Procurer of the Sacred Poultry (i.e., babysitter of the temple geese). It's steady work and good pay, but Falco is soon restless. So when a beautiful child, chosen to enter the secret order of Vestal Virgins, disappears, he grabs the case. He quickly discovers that greed and religious fervor are only a thread away from madness.

A Body in the Bathhouse: A Marcus Didius Falco Mystery, Book 13

Some things never change. With his new villa, Falco also gets a timeless headache: building contractors. After the departure of two shady plasterers, a rank odor in the bathhouse soon leads to the discovery of a corpse under the mosaic floor. Should Falco follow the culprits to remote Britannica? Despite the British weather (damp), the inhabitants (barbarians), and the wine (second-rate), Falco takes his whole family and goes. In veritas, Falco has another, secret reason for this exodus.

The Ides of April

Flavia Albia is the adopted daughter of Marcus Didius Falco and Helena Justina. From her mother, she learned how to blend in at all levels of society; from her father, she learned the tricks of their mutual professional trade. But her wits and (frequently) sharp tongue are hers alone. Now, working as a private informer in Rome during the reign of Domitian, Flavia has taken over her father’s old ramshackle digs at Fountain Court in the Surbura district, where she plies her trade with energy, determination, and the usual Falco luck.

Vita Brevis: A Crime Novel of the Roman Empire: Medicus, Book 7

Ruso and Tilla's excitement at arriving in Rome with their new baby daughter is soon dulled by their discovery that the grand facades of polished marble mask an underworld of corrupt landlords and vermin-infested tenements. There are also far too many doctors - some skilled - but others positively dangerous.

The Graveyard of the Hesperides: The Flavia Albia Mysteries, Book 4

Rome, August AD 89. Flavia Albia, the daughter of Marcus Didius Falco, has taken up her father's former profession as an informer. On a typical day, it's small cases - cheating spouses, employees dipping into the till - but this isn't a typical day. Her beloved, the plebeian Manlius Faustus, has recently moved in and decided that they should get married in a big, showy ceremony as part of beginning a proper domestic life together.

Medicus: A Novel of the Roman Empire

Gaius Petrius Ruso is a divorced and down-on-his-luck army doctor who has made the rash decision to seek his fortune in an inclement outpost of the Roman Empire, namely Britannia. After a 36-hour shift at the army hospital, he succumbs to a moment of weakness and rescues an injured slave girl, Tilla, from the hands of her abusive owner. And before he knows it, Ruso is caught in the middle of an investigation into the deaths of prostitutes working out of the local bar.

SPQR I: The King's Gambit

John Maddox Roberts takes listeners back to a Rome filled with violence and evil. Vicious gangs ruled the streets of Crassus and Pompey, routinely preying on plebeian and patrician alike. So the garroting of a lowly ex-slave and the disembowelment of a foreign merchant in the dangerous Subura district seemed of little consequence to the Roman hierarchy.

The Jupiter Myth: The Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries, Book 14

Marcus Didius Falco is about to get involved in a nasty noir crime, involving gangsters, gladiators, and romance. For Falco, a relaxed visit to his wife Helena's relatives in Britain suddenly turns serious. He and his family are staying in London when Falco is summoned to the scene of a murder. The victim, Verovolcus, was a renegade with ties to Roman crime magnates operating in London, but he was also close to King Togidubnus. So when he is discovered dead, stuffed headfirst down a well, a tricky diplomatic situation develops that Falco must defuse.

SPQR III: The Sacrilege

When a sacret woman's rite in the ancient city of Rome is infiltrated by a corrupt patrician dressed in female garb, it falls to Senator Decuis Caecilius Metellus the Younger, whose investigative skills have proven indispensable in the past, to unmask the perpetrators. When four brutal slayings follow, Decius enlists the help a notorious and dangerous criminal.

Invictus: Eagles of the Empire 15

Invictus is a gripping, authentic and exciting audiobook of the Roman army from best-selling author Simon Scarrow. Not to be missed by fans of Conn Iggulden and Bernard Cornwell. It is AD 54. The soldiers of the Roman army patrol a growing empire from the Mediterranean to the North Sea, from the Atlantic to the banks of the Nile. Rome brutally enforces its rule, and its legions are the most efficient and aggressive fighting force in the world.

The Flame Bearer: Saxon Tales, Book 10

From the day it was stolen from me, I dreamed of recapturing Bebbanburg. The great fort had been built on a rock that was almost an island. It was massive; it could be approached only on land by a single narrow track; and it was mine. Britain is in a state of uneasy peace. Northumbria's Viking ruler, Sigtryggr, and Mercia's Saxon queen, Aethelflaed, have agreed to a truce. And so England's greatest warrior, Uhtred of Bebbanburg, at last has the chance to take back the home his traitorous uncle stole from him so many years ago.

Master and God: A Novel of the Roman Empire

Lindsey Davis’ Master and God is a vastly entertaining historical novel set in the reign of the Emperor Domitian in first-century Rome. It is on the one hand a love story between Gaius Vinius Clodianus, a valiant but reluctant member of the Praetorian Guard, whose military career is as successful as his marital history is disastrous, and Flavia Lucilla, daughter of a freed slave and hairdresser to the ladies of the imperial household. A devastating fire in Rome brings them together....

Ruler of the Night: Thomas and Emily De Quincey, Book 3

In Ruler of the Night, listeners feel they're actually on the harrowing fogbound streets of 1855 London as the brilliant opium-eater Thomas De Quincey and his irrepressible daughter, Emily, confront their most ruthless adversary. The stakes couldn't be greater: both the heart of Victorian society and De Quincey's tormented soul.

Temple of the Grail: Rosicrucian Quartet, Book 1

Situated high in the Pyrenees the monastery of St. Lazarus is a forbidding place. Behind its ramparts and battlements it hides a secret so dangerous its keepers will kill to protect it. At the end of a bitter winter, a delegation headed by the ambitious Inquisitor Rainiero Sacconi arrives to investigate the monks of St. Lazarus.

God of Vengeance: The Rise of Sigurd 1

Norway, AD 785. It began with the betrayal of a lord by a king.... King Gorm puts Jarl Harald's family to the sword but makes one fatal mistake - he fails to kill Harald's youngest son, Sigurd. His kin slain, his village seized and its people taken as slaves, Sigurd wonders if the gods have forsaken him. Hunted by powerful men, he is unsure who to trust, and yet he has a small band of loyal followers at his side.

Heretic

A sharp, skilled and utterly fearless archer in the army of King Edward III, young Thomas of Hookton has been making his way through France for three years now, fighting fiercely alongside the English troops. But being a soldier in the great Hundred Years War is only a means to an end: Thomas of Hookton is hot on the trails of the man who brutally slaughtered his father and stole his only treasure - rumored to be the Holy Grail - from the ancient church of Hookton.

Publisher's Summary

It's 76 A.D. during the reign of Vespasian and the Roman festival of Saturnalia is getting underway. The days are short; the nights are for wild parties. But not for "informer" Marcus Didius Falco. His job is to uncover unwelcome truths and deal with sensitive situations, frequently at the behest of the imperial government.

So when a general's famous female conquest escapes from house arrest - leaving a horrendous murder in her wake - Falco is on the case. If finding a fugitive isn't enough of a Zeus-like headache, Falco's wife Helena Justina's brother has also gone missing.

Against the riotous backdrop of the season of misrule and merriment, the search seems impossible. And Falco seems to be the only one who notices that some dark agency is bringing death to the city streets...

I like the Didius Falco books and will continue to buy them but I prefer Ruth Downie's Roman mysteries to these. You cant really miss that the Falco books are written by a woman (do not read this as a lack of action or violence) but Falco has all the traits of a romance novel hero. The characters have the predictability of sitcom stereotypes, but this can be a positive attribute when you want to curl up with a solid mystery peopled with familiar old friends. It can be nice not to have to sit through 1000 pages of an author torturing his main character, to whom the reader is quite attached as well. Plus, without too much gore and sex these books can be heard around mature children (pg13 ish).
Saturnalia is one of the better Falco books but I've yet to read one I've had any real complaints about. Falco is a good mix of gruff and sensitive and the holidays add the right amount of choas. You cant get better than Christian Rodska as a narrator, he definitely adds excitement and character.

I have read and re-read the books, and now am having fun listening to them on audio. Great narration! These novels have a little bit of something for everyone- they're good mysteries, they're an interesting look at the Roman Empire, and the main character is funny. Smart, but also light and entertaining. So far there has only been one book in the series I haven't absolutely loved.

I'm always excited when I see a new release from Lindsey Davis. She makes ancient Rome seem like the next town over. I can expect a story that makes always makes me laugh, can usually summon a few tears and makes me sad when it ends. The reader is fantastic as well. Built around the festival of Saturnalia, it brings back some great characters from a previous novel. As I listened I realized everyone has had a Christmas like Falco's Saturnalia. I can't wait for the next book. The BBC dramatizations are also great.

I started off really liking this story and the writer. Found myself pausing to look up various things about Roman life up online, and enjoyed the learning experience along with the story. But, it did seem to go on a bit. And then the ending ... well, let's just say it was a disappointment. The story goes on and on, and then all of a sudden the various plot issues get "resolved" in the last chapter. It felt contrived, unsatisfying. And the whole business of the wife as co-detective also seemed trite ... too much like an ancient Rome takeoff on The Thin Man - yeah, it didn't work well. I started off wanted to read the whole series, but now I don't think so.

Again Falco has to get his brother-in-law out of trouble. There is always humor and suspense. I have not been disappointed by and of the books in this series. If you enjoy mystery and historical novels. This may be the series for you.

can find a reason not to have a good time during Saturnalia. Of course he has a job to do. One of his relations is missing and has some involvement with the job, a search for a woman Falco might not want to find. As usual, Falco doesn't disappoint the listener or Helena (she who WILL be answered to:) The plot and narration is great. This is an excellent entry in the series.